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Storage, batteries and electric mobility

Battery and pumped storage, cell manufacturing, electric vehicles and their charging, and the schemes that support them. It serves GS3 answers on energy and infrastructure.

Foundation note: How a battery works, and the chemistries in play

All 4 articles shown; the 0 that changed from 1 to 30 June 2026 are marked.Show only these

Pumped storage

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Prelims and Mains

A pumped storage project pumps water uphill when power is cheap and releases it through turbines when demand peaks, so it stores energy rather than generating it.

  • Solar power arrives in the afternoon and demand peaks after dark, and carrying water uphill is the oldest way to carry power across those hours.
  • Pumping costs more power than the plant returns, which makes a pumped storage project a net consumer of electricity and a store of value only when the price gap is wide enough.

What changed

  1. 28 Aug 2026New

    • The Karnataka High Court froze the 2,000 MW Sharavathi pumped storage project, which lies entirely inside the Sharavathi Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque Wildlife Sanctuary.
    • An expert committee under the National Board for Wildlife had recommended against it.
    • Katlekan's forest there holds endemics such as the Katlekan marsh nut and the Gund day gecko.

    Indian Express, 28 Aug 2026: The dark forest of Katlekan: Why we must stop the plunder of the Western Ghats (opens in a new tab)

UPSC has asked

  • Prelims 2024: the context in which pumped storage hydropower is discussed
  • Prelims 2013: States where the lion-tailed macaque is found

Energy storage: batteries, targets and long duration

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Prelims and Mains

Energy storage does the firming a weather driven grid needs, holding the midday surplus until the evening peak.

Why the grid needs it

  • India's peak demand, 270.8 GW on 21 May 2026, now rises again at night with air conditioning.
  • Round trip efficiency is the share of stored energy that can be taken back out; pumped storage returns 70 to 80 per cent.
  • Planned battery and pumped storage discharge for roughly four to six hours, which covers the daily swing but not a long spell of low generation.
  • Long duration storage discharges for eight hours or more, and includes flow batteries, compressed air and thermal storage.

What public money pays for

  • Public money goes into both the batteries on the grid and the factories that would make their cells.
  • The production linked incentive scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cells targets 50 GWh of cell making capacity.
  • Viability gap funding covers 13.8 GWh of battery storage, with a further 30 GWh under the Power System Development Fund.
  • The Energy Storage Obligation rises from 1 per cent in 2023 to 24, to 4 per cent by 2029 to 30.

What changed

  1. 27 Jul 2026New

    • The National Electricity Plan projects 47.24 GW of battery storage and 26.69 GW of pumped storage by 2031 to 32.
    • Closed loop pumped storage projects away from rivers no longer need concurrence from the Central Electricity Authority.

    Mains: India's green transition is missing long duration storage, since the planned four to six hour systems cover the daily swing only.

    The Hindu, 21 Jul 2026: India's green transition is missing long-duration energy storage (opens in a new tab) · PIB, 27 Jul 2026: GRID STABILITY AND ENERGY STORAGE (opens in a new tab)

Background reading: PIB, 12 Aug 2026: Green hydrogen in refineries, battery storage and EV schemes (opens in a new tab)

Delhi Electric Vehicles Policy, 2026

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Prelims and Mains

Delhi's electric vehicle policy sets dates after which only electric vehicles of a given class may be registered in the city, beginning with three wheelers and light goods vehicles and then two wheelers.

  • Policy 2.0, effective 1 July 2026, targets 30 per cent electrification of the fleet by March 2030.

What changed

  1. 16 Jul 2026New

    • Only electric three wheelers and light goods vehicles may be registered in Delhi from 1 January 2027, and only electric two wheelers from 1 January 2028.
    • The two wheeler target is the hard one: they are about two thirds of the fleet and only 1.7 per cent are electric.

    The Hindu, 16 Jul 2026: How challenging will Delhi's ambitious EV transition be? The Hindu ePaper, 16 July 2026 (opens in a new tab)

Corporate Average Fuel Economy norms

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Prelims and Mains

LeadCAFE III: the new fuel economy norms for carsSeptember 2026

Why in news

On 30 September 2026 the Ministry of Power notified new CAFE norms for passenger vehicles, in force from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2032.

  • about 16.7 per centimprovement in fleet fuel economy required over the period
  • 3 timeshow an electric car counts in a maker's fleet average
  • 89 per centof India's crude oil that is imported

Background

  • CAFE norms cap the average fuel consumption of all the cars a manufacturer sells in a year, and not of each model.
  • They were first introduced in 2017 under the Energy Conservation Act, and the norms now notified are their third round, known as CAFE III.

How the target works

  • Each maker gets a fleet average target, tied to the average weight of the cars it sells, so a maker of heavier cars gets a different target from a maker of small ones.
  • The target line has been flattened, so heavier cars face stiffer demands than before.

Rewards for cleaner cars

  • Super credits count a cleaner car more than once: an electric car counts three times, and hybrids and flex fuel cars count for more than one.
  • A Carbon Neutrality Factor gives credit for low carbon fuel such as ethanol blended petrol, biofuels and compressed biogas.

Trading and the small car question

  • Credits can be banked, traded between manufacturers, or bought through a buyout run by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.
  • A proposed extra relief for small petrol cars was dropped, in favour of a single formula based on weight.

The way forward

  • India imports nearly 89 per cent of its crude oil, so fuel economy norms are an energy security measure as much as a climate one.
  • Because an electric car counts three times, each one sold eases the target for the rest of a maker's fleet, which rewards electric cars without a subsidy.

Prelims facts

  • CAFE norms are notified by the Ministry of Power under the Energy Conservation Act; the Bureau of Energy Efficiency runs the buyout of credits.
  • They apply to a manufacturer's fleet average, not to each model.
  • An electric car counts three times in the fleet calculation.

Open the lead on its own page

Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) norms cap the average fuel consumption, and so the carbon dioxide, of all the cars a manufacturer sells in a year, and not of each model.

  • They were introduced in 2017 under the Energy Conservation Act and are notified by the Ministry of Power.
  • The target is adjusted for the average weight of a maker's fleet.
  • A maker that beats its target earns credits, and one that falls short must buy them.

What changed

  1. 30 Sep 2026LeadCAFE III: the new fuel economy norms for cars

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